In known manner, and as disclosed in document WO 2006/056675, a needling installation comprises a needling module having a needling head carrying a plurality of needles, the needling module including both needling head drive means for causing the needles to perform reciprocating motion and also a stripper comprising at least one plate having a plurality of perforations, with the needles of the needling head being aligned with the perforations present in the plate of the stripper so as to perform back-and-forth movement through the perforations. The face of the stripper plate that faces away from the needling head is placed in contact with the fiber texture for needling, so as to limit the extent to which the structure expands, in particular while the needles are being withdrawn from the fiber structure.
In Document WO 2006/056675, it is relatively easy to maintain contact between the stripper and the face of the fiber texture for needling since firstly the thickness of the fiber texture does not vary during needling, and secondly the fiber texture is needled while flat, with the texture traveling on a belt past the needling head.
Maintaining good contact between a stripper and the needling face of a fiber texture is more difficult when the texture is wound on a mandrel and when its thickness varies continuously during needling, requiring changes of positioning between the needling module carrying the stripper and the fiber texture.